Weathering the Storm
by M.Uchman
Summary: Episode VI of my Altered Universe storyline! The Republic has been at war for two years and is losing almost wevery battle it fights. Now Obi-Wan and his Padawan are trapped on Kamino and its up to Anakin and Ahsoka to save him! Rated T to be safe.
1. Prologue

**STAR WARS**

**ALTERNATE UNIVERSE**

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><p><strong>Episode VI<strong>

**Weathering the Storm**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS, IT BELONGS TO GEORGE LUCAS, LUCASFILM, ETC. NO PROFIT IS BEING MADE WHATSOEVER!**

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

**Conflict! After a failed invasion of Alderaan by Ventress and her new allies, The Galactic Senate of the Republic declared a state of war. After more than two years of bloody conflict, the enemy still remains a mystery to all.**

**Bent on destroying the Republic and taking revenge on the ones who attempted to kill her, Ventress has begun an invasion of the Republic's main cloning facilities on Kamino. Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Whie were sent to stop it.**

**After two weeks of fighting, an urgent message from Kenobi has been received from the Jedi Council. Desperate to retrieve the vital information he now carries, the Council sends their most experienced Jedi to return Kenobi to the capitol. Both know that if the information is lost, it could mean the end of the Republic as they know it!**


	2. Chapter 1: Another Vacation Interrupted

**Chapter One**

**Another Vacation Interrupted**

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><p>Anakin was not happy. Having been sent on a meditative leave only yesterday, he had been looking forward to spending some time with his family. He'd been on the front lines for nearly eight months and had only had very few messages from home, mostly from Padmé. Then last week, he'd gotten a call from Coruscant recalling him to the Temple. He'd been stuck in meetings the last three days, debriefing the Council and the Chancellor on the war. Then yesterday, the Council had sent him on leave. And now, not even 24 hours after finally being allowed to go home, he was yet again being called to the Temple. He hadn't even had a chance to say hello to anyone, having went to sleep the moment he'd gotten home. Now he was being pulled from his leave for what the Council would only say was an urgent matter. When he arrived at the Temple, he was just about ready to throw a tantrum at whomever had been sent to greet him, but immediately thought better of it when he realized just who was waiting for him.<p>

"Ahsoka! When did you get back?" Anakin asked, his bad mood all but forgotten as he went to embrace his former apprentice.

"Late last night. The Council told me it was important, so I got back as fast as I could." she answered, returning the embrace that her Master offered.

"Wait, they recalled you too? What could be so important that they needed you back here so fast?" he asked.

"I don't know. That's what I was going to find out. The Council's holding an emergency session as soon as we get up there." she told him.

"I just got out of a long debriefing with them yesterday afternoon. I don't see why they couldn't have told me what was so important then. Never mind my rambling, how was your mission?" Anakin replied. Hopefully some good would come of this new situation.

"We had to pull out. There were too many of them, whatever they are. Two years and we still don't know what we're being attacked by. Why don't they just come and finish us off already?"

"Ventress seems to want to take her time. She's been slowly taking the Republic down system by system, and nothing we've tried to do has stopped her. If we knew what it was we were facing we'd have a much better chance at predicting and stopping her next moves, but every time we've gotten close to finding that out, whoever we've sent has been killed." Anakin replied

"Maybe this time we're getting briefed on some good news and that's why the Council called us?" she asked.

"Maybe, but let's not get our hopes up. For all we know it could be bad news."

"Don't depress me yet, Anakin. I haven't been here long enough for that, not including the fact that I didn't sleep well last night as it is." she said. That stopped Anakin in his tracks. Since when had Ahsoka not been sleeping well again?

"You haven't been having nightmares again, have you?" he asked, almost afraid of what the answer would be, or for that matter that she'd simply lie to him. When she told him she hadn't had a nightmare in months, he looked into her Force signature to find that she was telling the truth.

"If not that, then what is it? You've never had problems sleeping before unless you had a bad dream." he said, having stopped by the door to the lift that would take them to the Council chambers. He had no intention of going up there until he either got to the bottom of what was bothering her or she at least agreed to talk about it later. Seeing his concern for her basically rolling off his Force signature, she decided it would be best to get it over with now, otherwise he'd spend the whole meeting brooding about it.

"It's nothing, Master, really. You remember when you learned about Togrutan sleeping habits when they're nearing adulthood?" she asked. As soon as she had said it, it had dawned on him. So that's what this was. He'd read in the archives that Togrutans didn't sleep as long as they usually do and they become restless for a few months before entering adulthood. It usually didn't last more than five months, but there had been records of it lasting longer in rare cases.

"Yeah, I remember. This sort of thing happens when you're getting close to adulthood. How long have you been like this for?" he asked.

"Just a few weeks. I was going to tell you about it anyway. I've been having trouble meditating and it's been getting harder for me to keep my concentration sometimes." she told him. Anakin recalled that Shaak Ti had also gone through this phase. He also recalled that the only thing that had helped was having her own Master there meditating with her. Anakin sighed inwardly. He hadn't exactly been looking forward to this. It would have been better if it hadn't happened while they were in the middle of a war, but there was no way to stop the natural progression of life. He'd learned that relatively quickly the day Palpatine had confessed his Sith ways to him years ago.

"Well at least we caught it before it got any worse. We'll start working on getting you back into as normal a routine as possible tonight. I know you hate being edgy like this." Anakin replied, trying to hide his smirk. Too late, Ahsoka had already caught it.

"Sure, Skyguy, laugh it up. We still have to get to the meeting, and we're already late, which means we'll probably be in trouble."

"I'm always late to important meetings, Snips. And don't worry, we'll be fine. I have a good cover story anyway." He replied. Of course, as she predicted, the looks on the Master's faces told them they were in trouble. Also as Anakin had told her, he had a perfect excuse.

"Master Skywalker, Knight Tano, you're both late." Master Unduli said.

"Apologies, Masters, but my former apprentice wanted to discuss a problem she was having with me. It won't happen again." Anakin replied as they took their seats.

"Understand, we do. Know why you were called here, do you?" Master Yoda asked.

"No, Master. You did say it was urgent. We came as soon as we could." He answered.

"Grave news from Kamino, there has been." Master Yoda told them.

"Kamino? Isn't that where Obi-Wan and Whie are?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yes, it is. What's happened, Master? Is Obi-Wan alright?" Anakin replied.

"Alright he may not be. Critical information, Master Kenobi and his Padawan have found. Trapped on Kamino, and outnumbered, they are." Yoda replied. As soon as he heard the words trapped and outnumbered, plus the fact that Obi-Wan may be injured, Anakin immediately wanted to jump up and sprint to the nearest ship to go rescue him. The only thing that stopped him was Ahsoka, who communicated her displeasure about the idea to him through the Force and nearly had to beg for him to sit and wait until they had all the information instead of blindly going to Kamino and hoping they were able to do something. So instead, Anakin followed his former Padawans example, remained seated, and waited patiently, which for him in this situation was a miracle of its own.

"Master Kenobi was able to contact us right after you left from debriefing yesterday. He said that he and his Padawan have vital information that cannot fall into enemy hands. He wouldn't even say what the information was for fear that communications were being watched." Luminara said.

"Master Skywalker, you and Knight Tano, the closest we have to experts on the enemy, you are. Go to Kamino you will. Retrieve Obi-Wan and his Padawan you must. Fail, you cannot." Yoda said. At that, Anakin got up bowed, and all but sprinted out of the Council chamber. Ahsoka apologized for her Master's manners or lack thereof, then sprinted after him. She caught up to him just as he was entering the lift. Instead of saying anything, she merely glared at him. It always got his attention.

"I know what you're going to say, Snips. Trust me if it were me stuck on Kamino, you'd be doing the same thing I'm doing now." he said.

"I would, but every time you get into situations like these you always get out of them. Master Kenobi will be fine. Besides, you're supposed to help me get back into my normal routine, remember?" she replied. It took only a few seconds for the guilt to settle in that he'd forgotten about Ahsoka's own problem, one which he was supposed to be helping her with no less, all because he found out Obi-Wan was in trouble. He let out a frustrated sigh.

"I know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to forget. It's just finding out Obi-Wan's in trouble without even feeling it through the Force got to me. Usually I have advance notice when something like this happens."

"It's ok, I get it. We'll just rush to Kamino, jump into the action, save Obi-Wan, and get back home. Then maybe you'll tell me why it is you plan on going to the Padawan tournaments for the first time in, well, ever."

"Now how did you find out about that?"

"Oh…well…you know, I kind of overheard a discussion you had with Padmé. I didn't mean to, its just my room is so close to where you were talking the other night that my perfect hearing caught it all." she said, and Anakin silently berated himself. He had completely forgotten Ahsoka's hearing was much better than the average Togrutan. Still, it wasn't such a bad thing that she had heard it anyway. He had actually planned to tell her after the tournaments. He'd just have to do it now rather than later.

"You might have a hard time believing this, but I'm thinking about taking another Padawan." he said.

"Really? Who are you planning on torturing with your lectures, Master?"

"Hey, I wasn't that bad, was I?"

"Not really. But seriously, who are you looking at?"

"Liam Jensen. You remember him, I think. He's one of the Younglings that was in Bear Clan when the Clone War broke out."

"Yeah, I remember. He's about 13 now. I think this tournament is his last chance before being sent to the AgriCorps. If I were you, if he impresses you at the tournaments next week, I'd take him. There aren't that many Knights or Masters that are actually looking for a Padawan right now. Master Ti is considering one, and so are Luminara and Barriss." Ahsoka replied. Anakin glanced at her with a somewhat surprised look.

"Barriss is considering another Padawan?" Anakin asked.

"That's what she told me, Master. As she put it, it was the will of the Force that she consider it." she replied.

"I think it will be good for her. She needs to at least consider taking a Padawan to completely get over having lost Zonder." Anakin replied as they made their way into the Temple's hanger bay. He saw both Rex and Appo, who had been leading the 501st for the last year after Bly's death, working on their fighters. They immediately stopped as the two Jedi approached.

"General Skywalker, General Tano. I guess you heard the rumors." Rex said.

"If the rumors you're referring to are about Kamino and General Kenobi being trapped with important information and, again I might add, needing to be rescued, then yes, the rumors are true." Anakin replied.

"Let me guess, we've been selected to do the rescuing again, haven't we?" Rex asked.

"What's the matter, Rex, not up for the challenge?" Ahsoka asked him, trying desperately to hold back a smirk.

"No, it's not that. It's just I find it a little ironic that we're always the ones who get sent to drag General Kenobi and Commander Malreaux out of trouble." Rex replied.

"That's because I usually insist on going after him myself, and Ahsoka almost always insists on accompanying me." Anakin said, sending a playful glare her way.

"Hey, someone has to keep you level headed, Skyguy, and when Obi-Wan isn't around that's my job." She returned. Anakin merely smirked. Ahsoka was definitely in a better mood than he had been in all day, or so he thought. As soon as the clones turned and made their way onto the Twilight, he felt a prodding from the Force. He was about to ask about it until Ahsoka poke up.

"Master?"

"You look a little on edge, Snips. Want to tell me what's wrong?" Anakin asked.

"There's…something else you should know. You aren't going to like it." She replied. He definitely didn't like the sound of that.

"I have a bad feeling about this already. Alright, what's the problem?" he asked again.

"I had a vision about two weeks ago. It had something to do with Master Kenobi." Ahsoka told him. He could tell by the look on her face that he was going to hate this.

"Now I know I won't like this. What did you see?" Anakin asked, as they walked to and sat down on a nearby bench.

"I saw Kamino. They were surrounded. All their clone troopers were gone, probably killed. I saw Ventress fighting Whie. Obi-Wan interfered to keep her from killing him. They fought and at some point, he lost his footing and his lightsaber. Ventress took it from the ground. She….Whie was unconscious. He couldn't help him." she said.

"What happened to Obi-Wan? Snips? What happened?" Anakin asked, almost afraid of the answer. She looked at him then, and he knew. Ventress had killed him. He couldn't let this happen, he wouldn't. They had to get to Kamino and fast.

"Master, I don't know what to do. What if we're too late?" she asked.

"We won't be. Everything will be fine. No one's going to kill Obi-Wan, he's stronger than that." Anakin replied.

"You….Master, we need to go help them!"

"I know, Snips. And we will. Don't worry, we'll get there in time. We always do. Just trust in the Force and everything will be fine."

"Just like that? That's a bit weird, even for you. You're usually the one who goes rampaging into danger whenever something happens that you don't like."

"Maybe I'm finally growing up to realize those ways aren't usually the best ways. Don't tell Obi-Wan I said that, though. He'll never let me hear the end of it." He replied with a smirk, but she knew he was being serious just from the way he'd said it. She couldn't think of anything to say, so she just stared at him."What?" he asked, finally having realized that she wasn't going to say anything unless he made it so she had to.

"It's just…you? Being calm like Master Kenobi? I didn't think that was possible." Ahsoka answered.

"Well, that's something new that you know about me them. You're still not telling Obi-Wan, though." Anakin said, and it was evident to her that he was being serious about that as well. Still, she would find a way around his prohibition like she did every other time she was told not to do something she felt she had to do. This time, she felt she had to do it if only to finally get the last say, and to get on her former Master's nerves somewhat. It was an opportunity that, when it arose, she just couldn't pass up.

"If you say so, Skyguy." she said, shaking her head.

"Hey. I know that look. You're going to find a way to tell him anyway, are you?" he asked.

"Why Master, what would I do that for?" she replied. Anakin only closed his eyes, shook his head, and let out an exasperated groan. Once again he's realized that this is just one more thing to add to the list of things he's never going to live down as they boarded the _Twilight_.

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><p><strong>So...I'm BAAAAAACCCKKKK! Yes, I know I am very very behind in my other stories, for which I sincerely apologize, but unfortunately the Force-damned writers block is determined to not leave me alone long enough to write for them. Still, this story takes place, as the Prologue says, two years after Enemy Unknown. I've pretty much made up my mind on how I would like for this story to go, but of course I work 5 days a week and barely have time during my days off to write, so we'll see how that goes. Then there's the writers block I can't kill on my other stories. If anyone has any ideas whatsoever to help me out with them, I'd be very appreciative. Anyway, thats it for Chapter One! Enjoy, and please feel free to review, review, review! Who knows, reveiw enough, and I might even give you another chapter before the end of the year, LOL! Nah, I'm just kidding, It'll be before that, I promise! Anyway, until next time, May the Force be with you, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!<strong>


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